Todd Graves, co-founder of the chicken tender Raising Cane’s restaurant empire, managed to convert a poor college grade into a multi-billion-dollar thriving business.
His secret?
“I believe God made me good at chicken fingers to help people,” he’s said. “I think God makes us all good at what we’re doing, ultimately, to help people.”
A devout Christian, Graves calls himself, “CEO, Fry Cook, and Cashier of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers.”
As a student at Louisianna State University in the early 1990s, Graves and classmate Craig Silvey submitted a business plan in a class detailing their idea for a singularly focused chicken tender business. The professor wasn’t impressed, accused them of not doing enough research, and gave them a B- for the paper – the lowest in the class.
Only Graves had done the work.
“I’d basically written the Bible on a chicken finger restaurant,” he told Inc. “I even knew what our aprons would cost.”
Despite the negative feedback from his professor, Graves was determined to make the mere idea a reality. Banks didn’t seem to believe in the idea either. So after graduation, Todd took a job as a boilermaker at an oil refinery – and then headed to Alaska to fish for salmon. Both roles were tons of work and highly lucrative, allowing the budding entrepreneur to sock away money he’d use to open the chicken business.
Moving back to Louisiana, Todd and Craig opened the first “Raising Cane’s” just outside the entrance of LSU in Baton Rouge. He named the restaurant after his yellow Labrador Retriever, “Cane.”
Like many small business owners, Cane’s grew but struggled. Hurricane Katrina almost put the company under, both literally and figuratively. But they were able to bounce back and actually gained market share as other businesses remained closed. The COVID pandemic was another struggle – and opportunity for growth.
Looking back, Todd Graves credits his attitude of seeing his work as an opportunity to serve others for helping the company experience such growth.
In fact, Graves has established an entire department within the company called “Cane’s Love” as a means by which to express appreciation to their employees They send out over 4,000 thank you cards per week, have a generous benevolence fund for special needs, and provide tuition assistance.
Scripture has a lot to say about our work.
“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established” (Proverbs 16:3) urged Solomon. “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,” wrote the apostle Paul (Col. 3:23).
Gallup has recently found that only 23% of the global workforce is what they term “engaged.” Most employees aren’t quitting or finding other employment – they’re simply just doing enough to get by and then go and collect their paycheck.
It might seem as though the God of the universe has more important things than to specially gift a guy on how best to prepare and sell chicken fingers. But it’s in the details of life, and using the hands and feet of His people, where the Lord often accomplishes His purposes.
Every Raising Cane’s employee receives a hard hat on their first anniversary. It’s a nod to Todd’s work as a boiler maker, the half of the hustle that helped him raise the dollars to launch the first store. The helmet also serves as a reminder that God’s work can sometimes be hard even as we help others.
Image credit: Todd Graves/Instagram
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